Dress or the like



Aug. 27, 1957 v. L. SCHIEK DRESS OR THE LIKE Filed July 12, 1955INVENTOR. V/V/A/V L. SCH/5K,

. 7 BY I.

DRESS OR THE LIKE Vivian L. Schiek, Three Oaks, Mich. Application July12, 1955, Serial No. 521,592

1 Claim. (Cl. 2-75) This invention relates to sun dresses, jumpers, orlike garments, and more particularly has reference to a garment of thistype especially designed as a childs or misses dress.

Summarized briefly, the invention comprises a three piece garment,including a single back portion having an upper, back or bodice paneland a skirt panel, usable in conjuction with either of a pair of frontportions each of which includes an upper, bodice panel and a lower,skirt panel. Separable connecting means is provided at the shoulders ofthe back and front portions, and also at the waist, and each of thefront portions has outwardly extending ties which are adapted to bebrought around to the back of the garment and tied as a bow.

Little girls, in their play, tend to soila dress front approximatelytwice as rapidly as theiy do the back of the dress. Particularly is thistrue in the summertime, when, during almost constant outdoor play, suchdresses, jumpers, and similar garments are worn, and, due to becomingrapidly soiled at the front, must be changed with considerablefrequency, thus requiring excessive washing and ironing of the childsplay dresses.

In view of the above, it is proposed to provide a sun dress or similargarment which, due to its having a pair of front portions each of whichis usable with a single back portion also comprising a part of thegarment, will require washing and ironing with much less frequency thanis presently the case.

Another object is to provide the front portions in contrasting colors orpatterns, so that the sun dress seemingly is two completely differentdresses.

Another object is to facilitate the attachment and detachment of theback portion from the associated front portion, thus to permit a changeto be made with minimum difficulty.

Still another object is to provide a dress as described which will beattractive, will stand heavy wear, will be simply designed so as tofacilitate washing and ironing of the three component parts thereof, andwill be capable of manufacture at relatively low cost.

Other objects will appear from the following description, the claimappended thereto, and from the annexed drawing, in which like referencecharacters designate like parts throughout the several views, andwherein:

'Figure 1 is a perspective view of the dress as it appears when worn;

Figure 2 is an enlarged exploded view showing the three parts of thedress; and

Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view on line 3-3 of Figure 2.

The dress constituting the present invention includes three maincomponents, these being a first front portion 10, a second front portion12, and a single back portion 14.

The front portions, so far as their pattern or design is concerned, arebasically similar to one another. Thus, the respective front portions10, 12 include upper, bodice niited States Patent "ice panels 16, 18,having upwardly convergent side edges and a neckline of selected designdefining shoulder straps 20, 20 of portion 10 and 22, 22 of portion 12.In the shoulder straps 20, 22 there are provided spaced buttonholes 24,26.

The front portions 10, 12 also includes depending, lower, skirt panels28, 30 which can be provided with a suitable hem at the bottom and areconnected by transversely extending lines of stitching 32, 34 to theupper panels 16, 18 at the waist of the garment. The skirt panels can begathered at the waist, as shown, or otherwise designed, the particulardesign, being relatively immaterial.

Connected to the opposite side edges of the upper panels 16, 18, at thewaist of the garment, are ties 36, 36 of portion 10 and 38, 38 ofportion 12.

Preferably as shown in Figure l, the upper panels of the front portionsare double thickness, to permit the garment to stand heavy wear while atthe same time keeping the garment light and minimizing bulkiness.

Further, the front portions, though having the same general design, arecontrasted with one another, in respect to their coloring, and/ordecorative markings. Thus, front portion 10 may be of a solid color,matching the color of the back portion 14, while front portion 12 may bein a common stripe, check, plaid, or print.

The respective front portions, at opposite sides of the waist, areprovided with buttonholes it 40 and 42, 42.

The back portion 14 includes an upper, back panel 44 and a lower, skirtpanel 46 connected to the back panel by a line of stitching 48 at thewaist of the garment. Shoulder straps 50 are provided upon the upperpart of the upper panel id, and have buttons 52 eugageable in anyselected buttonholes 24 or 26, as the case may be, thus detachablyconnect the back portion to the selected front portion at the shoulderof the wearer. Further, at the waist, the upper, back panel 44- has atopposite sides thereof a pair of spaced buttons 54 selectivelyengageable in buttonholes 40, 42 as the case may be.

In use, the selected front portion is connected to the back portion bymeans of the buttonholes 24 or 26 and buttons 52, and buttonholes 4t} or42 and buttons 54. The dresses otherwise open at the sides, to providefull comfort for the child with a minimum restriction to movement.

After the front and back portions have been connected as described, theties 36 or 38, as the case may be, are brought around the back and tiedin a bow to insure against separation of the front and back portions atthe waist of the garment and also to add to the attractiveness of theappearance of the same.

It will be seen that when the front portion in use becomes soiled, itcan be readily detached from the back portion and the other, companionfront portion substituted therefor. As a result, the child has seeminglyhad a change of attire, but in actuality, the washing and ironing of thechilds play dresses are cut down to a substantial extent. Further, theWashing and ironing operations are carried out with considerably morecase than is presently the case, in View of the fact that the threecomponents of the garment are each, when separated from any othercomponent part, panel-like members, that can be ironed and washed withmaximum facility.

The particular fastening means used is, it should be noted, not criticalto the invention, and instead of buttons, there could be used gripperfasteners, buckles, plastic rings, or any other separable fastener thatwould be suitable.

It is believed apparent that the invention is not necessarily confinedto the specific use or uses thereof described above, since it may beutilized for any purpose to which it may be suited. Nor is the inventionto be necessarily limited to the specific construction illustrated andde- 03,82 I t H v scribed, since such construction is only intended tobe illustrative of the principles, it being understood that theinvention comprehends any minor change in construction that maybepermitted within the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A dress comprising: a back portion including a back panel and a skirtpanel depending therefrom; and a front a portion identical to theback-portion in shape and size and formed as a piece wholly separatedfrom the back panel, the front portion including a bodice panel and askirt panel depending from the bodice panel, the bodice panel includingshoulder straps and the back panel of the back portion includingshoulder straps overlapping with the shoulder straps of the frontportion when the dress is worn, said shoulder straps of the back andbodice panels being provided with a plurality of cooperating fastenerstachably connecting the same at the shoulder of the wearer, the frontand back portions being provided with a plurality of cooperatingfasteners embodying mating embodying mating buttons and buttonholesadjustably, de-

buttons and buttonholes at the sides thereof adjacent the waist of thedress separably, adjustably connecting the front and back portions atthe waist, said front and back portions being otherwise free of directconnections to each other, the connections of the shoulder straps beingadapted to adjust the length of said dress and the connections at thewaist being adjustable transversely of the first named connections toadjust the dress for the Width thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 6.05Gl ver -.a-.-.--.-. -s v-L29, 04 1,731,137 Jones Oct. 8, 1929 1,792,610Skinner Feb. 17, 1931 2,425,635 Nitzberg Aug. 12, 1947 2,479,091 AckleyAug. 16, 1949 2,556,039 Landert June 5, 1951 2,620,476 Kelsall Dec. 9.,1952 2,638,598 Abramson 'May 19, 1953 2,698,943 Thompson et a1 Jan. 11,1955

